A man who threatened a woman with scissors and an iron and then assaulted a friend who tried to intervene has been jailed for four months.
Neil MacDonald walked uninvited into a house on Benula Road, Inverness, where the two women were drinking.
He tried to hit his first victim, before grabbing the household items and threatening her with them instead.
When her friend tried to stop him, she was seized by the throat and pushed against a wall.
MacDonald, 32, had previously received a community-based disposal for the assaults but found himself back before Inverness Sheriff Court for being in breach of that order.
Fiscal depute Shay Treanor told the court the incident took place in the early hours of June 27, 2020.
Man entered house uninvited
He said: “At 1.10am the accused entered the property where an altercation occurred between the accused and the witness.
“The accused grabbed the witness by the chest area and attempted to punch her.”
When the pair broke apart MacDonald grabbed a pair of scissors from the kitchen and threatened the woman with them.
He then grabbed an iron that was sitting on top of the oven and threatened the woman with that too.
When the second woman attempted to intervene she was “seized on the throat and pushed against a wall” by MacDonald, Mr Treanor said.
Accused’s ‘alcohol issues’
Solicitor Duncan Henderson, for MacDonald, told the court his client had alcohol issues for which he hoped to seek treatment.
He said: “He wishes to be released to attend Osprey House to attend to his alcohol difficulties.”
But Sheriff Gary Aitken rejected this request and told MacDonald, of Benula Road, Inverness: “You were given the opportunity of a community disposal as a direct alternative to custody. You are in breach.”
He sentenced him to four months imprisonment.